Abercrombie & Fitch Co.

The challenge

For every business and brand present in the online world, the web is the space that stores (almost) all of the important information and evidence. Keeping these neatly stored and accessible, however, is a whole different story.

Apart from the growing need for a tool able to capture and store screenshots of product pages automatically, A&F Co. had an even more vital challenge on the table: meeting the requirements of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO):

“We are a lean team that contends with intellectual property infringement on a global scale”, explains Jackie Buday, Lead Trademark Specialist at Abercrombie & Fitch Co. “For this reason, we needed an automatic screen-capturing service to preserve evidence from our websites, so we can use it in various trademark-related matters.”

Additionally, the captured and classified screenshots were also to be used as irrefutable evidence in legal actions to support the preservation of the A&F Co. registered trademarks. ‍

The solution

Stillio automated screenshot-capturing service has proven to be a budget-friendly, reliable digital solution for Abercrombie, leaving a lasting impression with its presentability and aesthetic appeal, as well as the exemplary customer service.

To accommodate the company’s need for an adequate response to the USPTO requirements, the team behind Stillio designed and implemented a new feature: the time and date stamp and webpage URL as watermark added to every screenshot captured for A&F.

“The amount of time this saved us is immeasurable!”, Jackie continues. “We screenshot hundreds of pages every month and Stillio truly offers a ‘one-and-done-setup’. Stillio allows us to focus on other tasks that require our attention and has allowed us to be much more efficient.”‍

The results

For Abercrombie & Fitch Co., Stillio has proven its worth as a digital tool that assists in meeting the legal trademark-related requirements, keeping organized archives of important store pages and helping keep imposters at bay:‍

“We use the captured screenshots to help prove the first time we used our trademark in commerce. This can be used to file with the trademark office or to defend our mark against a trademark squatter. These pieces of evidence are easily shared with our legal support staff in the US and Switzerland.

Since the team started using Stillio, we’ve been able to see how our websites evolve in time and how frequently (or sparsely) we use the trademark. This gives us a more holistic perspective, instead of focusing on a single screenshot in time.”

Now that Stillio takes care of the screenshot capturing, Abercrombie & Fitch Co. can continue to innovate and inspire, with a bit more ease of mind when it comes to enforcing trademark matters.